


The Noble Cause

by Rinner



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, Gen, Other, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2018-01-12 06:39:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinner/pseuds/Rinner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A slightly different take on the titans and their existence. Warning for brief mention of suidcide/strong language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Noble Cause

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Levi S., the idiot and rad bro who got me into this death trap of an anime.

You are Eren Jaeger.   
For the past several years, your everyday life has turned into a grueling struggle. After the death of your mother at the hands of the Titans, you swore you wouldn’t rest until every single one of them was dead.   
The Titans. You trained your hardest, using your goal to give you strength, and you became a soldier. You fought your hardest. Every time you saw one of the disgusting, fleshy body, your memories came rushing back to you, and fueled by the pain they carried, you attacked.   
Mikasa died at the hands of the Titans. You watched the whole thing happen. It haunts you still. You dream about it every night; in the dream, everything is dark; you hear her scream, you try and find her, but you’re blinded. Then, a bang, like a gunshot, and the dream ends.   
After her death, your motivation to kill redoubled. It wasn’t until a week later that you realized that you had loved her.  
The Titans slowly took away almost everyone you love. And in vengeance, you will exterminate them.  
You never succeeded.  
You’ve been in the Survey Corps for months, and have never killed a Titan. Despite your fury, your determination, the noble motivation behind your cause, you have never had the satisfaction of bringing down one of those monsters.  
But today, that will all change.  
They’re coming for you. The Titans. You can hear their footsteps, feel the ground shake under your feet as they approach. The sensation sends your heart pumping, and you take short, spirited breaths. You can’t wait to get into the fight, to feel the weightlessness as you swing from your maneuver gear, to hear the roar of the Titans as mankind finally fights back.  
Here they come.  
You see the Titans coming from miles off. Massive, ugly, versions of humans, fifty or more feet tall, and all craving flesh and blood. Your flesh and blood.  
You’ll kill them all.  
“Get in position!” Corporal Levi shouts. “Remember your training! You’ve all done this before!”  
Your hands grip the handles of your swords. You’re itching to move, to fight. You can’t wait much longer.  
Normally, Marco would probably have something uplifting to say. It makes you miss him. You wish he could be here, fighting beside you. But he died a hero’s death, fighting for mankind. That’s all that matters. He died a hero.  
The Titans are within range now. Levi gives the signal, and you and your troop leap forward. Hooks shoot from your gear, and you swing wildly from tree to tree, approaching the oncoming hoard. The Colossal Titan, the one who broke into your town, who destroyed your life, leads the charge. He is your target.  
You leap onto him, steadying yourself on his shoulder. You’re so small, he doesn’t even notice you. You run to his back. This is so easy, it doesn’t even seem real. Why have you never done this before? Were you doing something wrong?   
No. All that matters is that this is happening now. You can kill him. All you need to do is raise your sword and kill the damn Titan.  
You plunge downward, slicing the blade deep into the Titan’s neck. He falls. The massive body begins to collapse as the monster drops to its knees. It’s over.  
You’ve done it.  
You’ve finally killed a damn Titan.  
Your heart soars, and you are unable to stop a wide grin creeping across your face. Every muscle in your body becomes numb as a victory high spreads through your system.   
“I DID IT!” you scream, ecstatic. “I KILLED A FUCKING TITAN! Did you see that?! Levi?! Armin?! Don’t ignore me! I FINALLY DID IT!”  
You let out a scream, hysteric over your victory. The scream turns into a laugh, a shaking, unstable laugh, as you are unable to believe your own skill. You did it. You finally did it. You can kill them all, you can avenge Mikasa, and your mother, and Marco…  
Someone is screaming. It’s a loud, long hysterical scream, and it won’t stop. It’s loud. It’s annoying you. You want them to stop screaming. You look around; everyone else is fighting. No one is screaming.  
Suddenly you realize—it’s you.  
You’re screaming, louder and longer than you ever have before. The battle disappears, and you’re abruptly aware of what’s going on around you. Your hands and feet are bound. You can’t move. And you’re screaming and fighting your bounds, desperate to escape. Everything is very bright and non-distinct. There are Titans around you. They’re holding you down, trying to talk to you. What’s going on? Where are you?   
A searing pain erupts in the back of your neck. No. No, they’re going to kill you. You can’t… you can’t let them…  
The brightness begins to fade, as do the faces of the Titans. You realize they seem… strangely human. Before you can get a better look, everything goes black, and you pass out.  
\----  
You are now Armin Arlert. You’re standing in front of the glass window of the room holding your best friend, Eren Yeager, within the walls of The Filmore Mental Asylum.  
He woke up screaming. Something absurd about “Titans.” You remember sadly that’s how Eren sees the asylum workers, who are now rushing to try and calm him down.  
Eren’s mother died several months ago. Natural causes; she’d been suffering from Leukemia for almost a year. It completely crushed Eren. He stopped talking, stopped eating… he was simply unable to cope with his beloved parent’s death. You tried to help him, you really did, but there was nothing you could do. He turned to Mikasa, the girl he’d fallen in love with only months earlier. But Mikasa couldn’t help him either. She’d never been a very stable person herself. Unable to cure Eren, but also unable to watch him suffer, she’d taken her own life about three months after the death of Eren’s mother.  
After that, Eren was never the same. Hardly able to cope with his mother’s death, he’d begun to convince himself that Mikasa was murdered. He’d call you every night, telling you about the murder and asking for help to discover the culprit. You tried to explain to him that Mikasa took her own life, but he never believes you. In his mind, there was no way she would’ve taken her own life. He couldn’t bring himself to face it.  
Then, last month, Eren had shown up at your door. It looked like he hadn’t slept in days; his hair was unbrushed, his expression wild, and dark circles had begun to form under his eyes.  
“The Titans, Armin,” he muttered. “The Titans killed her, the Titans killed mom and Mikasa!”  
You tried to get him to explain what the Titans were. He then proceeded to come out with the craziest story you’d ever heard; Titans were monsters, humanoid monsters, who devoured people. They had attacked the village where you and Eren supposedly lived, killed his mother, and chased them out. Then, the two of you, along with Mikasa, Levi, Marco, and several of your other friends, joined some kind of army to fight them. One of them had killed Mikasa, which you supposed was Eren’s explanation for her death. Now, you needed to help Eren in fighting these Titans, and avenging his mother and Mikasa.  
That was when you had called the hospital.  
Eren put up a fight going to the asylum. Suddenly, everyone around his had become Titans. He kicked, punched, and screamed his way through the halls as they dragged him, shouting something about “maneuver gear” and swearing he’d kill them all. It was too much for you to watch, and several times, you had to leave and get some air.  
Since then, you’ve been back to visit him several times a week. He’d talk willingly to you, Levi, Marco, or any of your other friends. But anyone else, especially the Asylum workers, were Titans, and he would scream at them on sight. However, when he did talk, all he would discuss is the Titans. Finding Mikasa’s killer and avenging her. Nothing you said would bring him out of it.  
Then, last week, Marco had died in a tragic car accident. Obviously, you had no intention of telling Eren, what with the condition he was in; however, Levi had accidentally let it slip while the two of you were visiting together. Eren had thrown a fit. He began to rant about the Titans, exclaiming that Marco couldn’t have been killed in a car crash, that wasn’t “noble” enough. He had died fighting the Titans. Just like Eren’s mother, and just like Mikasa.  
This was your first visit since then. Eren had been sleeping, and the worker’s refused to let you in, after Levi’s little slip last week—you’re still mad at him over that. You’d only been there five or so minutes, when Eren had begun to scream about killing a Titan, calling your name and laughing, a hysterical smile plastered across his face. Then, he woke up screaming, terrified even further out of his mind, and was restrained. One of the workers came out to you, looking sad.  
“Man,” he said, watching as Eren passed out against the wall. “I’m really sorry about your friend. He’s a real wackjob.”  
You heave a sigh, watching Eren drift back into sleep, undoubtedly dreaming about avenging the death of his loved ones, and fighting tirelessly for his noble cause. “Maybe to you, he is. But Eren’s a hero in his own mind. And that’s what matters.”  
The worker turns back to the sleeping Eren, watching him sadly. “Whatever you say, man.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! This was my first fanfiction, ((I do freelance work)), I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
